Sam opened his eyes and found himself staring up into...treetops?

He shot up to a seated position, a wave of residual tingling going through his body as he frantically looked around. Last he knew, he was standing on a sidewalk in a town. And now, he was in the woods.

"You okay...?"

He turned sharply at the voice and found Millie sitting next to him. "Millie..."

"Memory good," she grinned. She held out a canteen to him and he graciously took it and drank. "Don't feel bad. I woke up just a bit ago myself. Long enough ago, anyway, to grab some water. And pull these out." She held out her hand with some metal spikes in it.

"What are those?" he asked, picking one up delicately. "Wait... Prongs? These are from a taser."

"Guess we should be glad it wasn't a gun."

"Ok," he continued after a smirk to that comment. "That explains the knockout. But...where are we?"

She looked around a bit before turning back to him. "Guess you were never here that long, huh." When he didn't respond, she continued "It's Purgatory."

"Purga-" He cut himself off, jumping to his feet. Another bit of tingling, but he ignored it as he searched for a weapon. They were near water, but he wasn't sure what help that could be. There was a makeshift lean-to just a bit away from the edge of the water. Looked like someone was living there. Or at least had for a while. There didn't seem to be any sign of anyone else being around.

He flinched when he felt a hand on his arm, whipping around with the canteen primed and ready to hit with. He stopped short when he realized it was Millie.

"Yes, Purgatory. But...it seems things have calmed down a bit here. There's no one nearby."

He dropped his arm. "Yeah... Definitely quiet." He frowned then, looking at the canteen. "Did you find this in there?" he asked, motioning towards the makeshift shelter.

"Oh, yeah." She shrugged walking over to it. He followed as she continued. "I thought it was weird this is where we...landed? But came in handy."

"Why would it be weird?"

"This is my old place. Well...the last one I made in Purgatory."

He stopped just short of the 'entrance', looking at the simple shelter. Bits of makeshift cushioning and some worn out books. Bare bones for sure, but evidently sturdy. He watched as Millie knelt down to pick up one of the discarded books and flip through it. He hadn't spent too much time in Purgatory himself, and had heard a few stories of Dean's year here. But looking at this little plot, he couldn't imagine what she had gone through being here for so much longer. It definitely made her tougher than one would think just looking at her, that's for sure.

He shook his head. "We should get out of here."

Millie set the book down as she stood back up to give him a puzzled look. "Get out? You can't just get out of Purgatory..."

He smiled. "Sure you can. If you know where the exit is." He looked around again. It was hard to really get an idea of where they were. He knew the river was key, but beyond that... "Do you know which direction we would need to go to hit a large pile of rocks? Looks almost like a small cliff edge near the end of the river?"

"That way..." she responded, gesturing to the right of where they were standing. "But I still don't understand how you think we're going to get out."

"We walk through the door."

They walked for a while, both still on alert for any attacks they were sure were going to come. Sam had spotted a few discarded makeshift weapons a little ways into their walk, and grabbed them up. The farther they walked though, the quieter it seemed. They hadn't seen anyone...anything... It was weird...

Until the vampire sitting on a rock next to the water...skipping stones. That's when it got downright strange.

Sam held his arm out, stopping Millie. She looked up at him and he nodded towards the vamp. He motioned for her to stay back, silently telling her he would move ahead and that she should be back up. She nodded and he stepped forward.

As he got closer, he couldn't help but think he knew the vamp. He recognized him... Why did he know this vampire? Sure, he'd ganked plenty but...

He saw the balaklava lying on the ground, clown face wrinkled and worn staring up at him. And then it hit him.

"Don't move!" he growled.

The vampire stopped in mid-toss and turned slowly to face Sam. "Oh...wow. Wow. It's true. That's really how this works."

The statement had Sam stopping for a moment. But not for long. He charged right up to the vampire and grabbed his shirt. "You son of a bitch. You killed my brother!" He knew it. Didn't know how he knew it, but he did. It was him.

"Yes... I did..." The vamp wasn't fighting back at all. Just seem to hang in Sam's grasp. "I am so sorry."

Sam had raised his makeshift club, ready to smash the monster's head to a pulp. But again, the words had him stopping. Frozen with one hand on the other's shirt, the other reared over both their heads.

"What?"

"I kept telling myself it was an accident. No bite no kill, right? But that was just an excuse." He shook his head and looked...ashamed?

Sam was conflicted. He couldn't wrap his head around what was happening. Half- most of his brain was screaming to just crush this thing's head. He wanted to search every rock of of Purgatory to find a piece of rebar to just stabstabstabstab-

Another gentle touch on his arm had him flinching. He whipped his head around to see Millie had come forward and was holding his arm that was holding the vampire.

"I don't think he's going anywhere," she said softly.

He stared at her hand on his arm, focused on the simple gesture. "Your touching me..."

She smiled, slowly removing her hand. "It seems a lot of things have changed." She nodded toward the vampire.

He turned back to see the vampire was still quietly admonishing himself for his actions. Sam let go of the shirt, slowly lowering the club but not stepping away. The vampire didn't move, like he was ready and willing to accept whatever punishment that would come.

"What did you mean?" Sam asked quietly. The vampire looked up at him. "When you said that this is really how this all worked. What did you mean?"

"I thought I would see...him. Your brother. But you make sense." He shook his head. "This place - makes you face everything you did as a monster. Most of it I had already come to terms with...figured I was doomed. But that last... Just keeps replaying in my head. I couldn't figure out why for the longest time... But I got it." He looked up at Sam again, a knowing smile on his face. "It's different. I mean I did a lot of crap, ya know. But it was all me, right? It was me that did it. And 9 times out of 10, it was for eats. But your brother...I was just there 'cause of Jenny. That was all her, and I was just having fun. I didn't care. I was just... It wasn't right. It wasn't a fair fight."

Sam took a step back at that. It was like the vampire had been in his head months ago. The arguments. The explanations. The excuses. They were all the same.

"So Purgatory is...now...Purgatory," Millie commented. Sam looked at her questioningly. "It's a place for the gray area to get cleared up. Heaven? Hell? Not sure - contemplate it in Purgatory. Right?" She shrugged.

"Yeah," the vampire answered. "I expected a fight when I got here. That's what all the stories said. But when I got here... I mean there were fights. But nothing like what I thought it was gonna be. Lot more monsters just...thinking."

Sam just shook his head. "So what? Now you get to go to heaven?!"

"Ha! No, of course not. Like I said - I know what I am. What I was. Nah, I'm headed for the sauna. But I think part of me...wasn't hoping for forgiveness really... I just wanted someone to know... Not that I'm dismissing what I did. Just that...I am accepting it. I did that. It was shit. And I did it."

Before Sam could offer any response, flames suddenly bloomed around the vampire's feet and then he was gone with a little flicker of an ember and a puff of smoke in his wake.

Sam and Millie just stood there, staring at the spot. After a moment, Millie quietly spoke up.

"Maybe we should get going..."

Sam turned to her, still at a complete loss at what had just happened. He understood it, theoretically. But...it was going to take a bit longer to really get his head around it. "Yeah..." Better out of here to think about it...

They continued towards their destination, again in quiet. But this time more in an introspective quiet than a wary one. Each lost in their own thoughts.

It wasn't long, thankfully, before Sam spotted the rock formation just a a few yards in front of them. He could just barely make out the blue sheen of the portal and was grateful for the sight. He half expected it to no longer exist.

"It's just a little bit further. Do you see it?" He pointed towards the tops of the rocks, will turning to look back at Millie. His arm dropped though when he realized Millie had fallen back a good ways. "Hey...we're almost there. It'll be ok."

"Sorry..." she breathed, trying to pick up a bit to catch up to him. "I just... It's hot..."

"Hot?" He couldn't help put laugh at that. "Ah, come on. No exercising in the closet?"

"It was a closet..."

He stopped then, turning around to look at her mockingly, hands on hips. "Thought it was a big closet?" She tripped as she got closer to him, nearly falling into him. He caught her and held her up. "Hey! You ok?" He could feel heat practically radiating off her arms where he'd caught her. "You're...you're burning up..."

"Like I said...it's hot..." She did look like she was roasting, which Sam still thought was really weird. He hadn't really thought of Purgatory having weather, but when he did think about it he just thought it was...cool.

"It'll be ok..." he said, rubbing her arms a bit before slowly letting them go, making sure she could stand on her own. "It's right there. Just a bit further and then we'll be back on good ole terra firma."

She just nodded and started forward again. He looked after her, worry starting to really crease his forehead as he followed close behind.

They reached the rocks and Sam stepped ahead, climbing up and leaning back down to help her up next. She got to the bottom of the rock formation and moved to follow him up, reaching her hand towards him, but stopped.

"I gotcha," Sam called to her. "Just give me your hand."

"Sam...I..." She was looking back down at her foot. "I'm stuck."

He looked down at her foot. It looked like it was stuck in mud, but...that didn't seem right. "Just give me your hand," he said again. "I'll pull you up."

She turned back to him, again trying to reach up. She stretched as far as she could but just couldn't reach his hand. Sam moved a bit further down the rocks, trying to get a sturdy perch to try and reach her from when he caught a whiff of...sulfer...?

"Sam...?"

He looked to her, the fear in her voice amping his already heightened concern. Flames were now circling her feet, just like they did with the vampire.

"Millie!"

He saw a puff of smoke just as a hand grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him the opposite direction.